


We Are Caged In Simulations

by hysteriwah (ass_sass_sin_o)



Series: The Simulation Saga [1]
Category: Muse (Band)
Genre: Belldom - Freeform, Drama, Love, M/M, Pain, Sad Ending, Simulation, it's not happy, oh god there's angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-27 00:48:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20939525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ass_sass_sin_o/pseuds/hysteriwah
Summary: After waking in a simulated world, Matt finds himself lost and alone, but he is quickly found by the cheerful Dom - who offers to help him find the way out. Together they face the dangers the simulation has to offer as they race towards the master computer, an unstoppable robot and a grim policeman close on their trail./ARE WE CAGED IN SIMULATIONS?//...YES/Inspired by Muse's recent album, Simulation Theory.





	1. ONE--We Are Caged In Simulations

The air is still. Too still.

Not even the usual draught Matt wakes up to is there - instead there is only nothingness, as if he is floating within an endless void.

Is he dreaming?

Struggling to open his eyes, Matt shifts a little in his half slumbering state, utterly unbothered by the fact his head is no longer resting on his pillow. Wait- the feeling of hard ground beneath his head instead of the soft pillow startles him awake, one hand flying up to shield his eyes from the unyielding light around him.  Slowly, he rises up to rest on his elbows, eyes adjusting to the pinkish light that illuminates his surroundings. Above him, the sky is blue, a solid, blank blue, without even a hint of a cloud lingering up there. Squinting, he gazes up at the sky, searching for the sun that isn’t there until he realises there is no sun, and the sky is but a bright screen of blue, untouchable and unchanging. The first wave of panic hits him then, the feeling sending numb shockwaves through his veins.

It sends him scrabbling to his feet, scraping his hands on the yellowish stone floor as he goes. As he rises up, his breaths are heavy, his eyes frantic as they flicker around at the wasteland he stands in, his hands trembling with the thought of being in such a place. A sunless, airless, land, the rocky ground littered with wrecks of mangled cars and what look to be robots, even if they are barely bigger than Matt himself.  Choking back a cry, he continues to look around him, his fists clenched and his nails digging into his palms - as if the pain could take him back home, put him back in his bed and wake him up with the sunrise.

But the pain does nothing. Not even when he draws blood. 

The sound of metal clattering behind him has Matt nearly jumping out of his skin - not yet daring to turn around.

“Hey!” a voice calls, it’s tone deep and loud, yet kind, “Where did you come from?”

Feet planted firmly on the ground, Matt swivels around to find the speaker, who seems to be a young man, wearing a simple green top, jeans, and white trainers. He stands barely a few meters from Matt, one hand on his hip and the other running through his sandy blonde hair.

“You okay?” he asks, “Mate- how did you get here? Where did you come from?”

At that moment, Matt turns around fully, a sudden wave of emotions washing over him.

“Home,” he mutters, voice cracking on the lone syllable he utters. The sting of tears linger in the corners of his eyes as the blonde man jogs forward, his brows furrowed with concern.

“Hey- it’s okay,” he reaches an arm out to Matt, “You must’ve only just got here, right?”

Unable to speak, Matt merely nods, unsure whether to lean into the warmth of the stranger or to shy away from it.

“Ah, okay...well, uh, I’m Dom, it’s short for Dominic. I’ve been here a while but I’ve been trying to find my way out,” he introduces himself, his grey eyes like steel in the glow of the wasteland.

“I’m Matt,” Matt swallows, struggling against the tide of emotions, “Short for Matthew,”

Nodding, Dom takes a little step back, aware that he has overtaken the shorter man’s personal space. By now, Matt has been able to quell some of his shaking, but he still can’t get his head around why or how he is here, never mind where he is.

“You’ve been here a while...where is... _ here _ ?” he asks, finally looking up at the man who stares back with flint eyes.

“Here?” Dom gestures to the world around them, “Here is one part of this endless simulation. Some places you can see the code, some places you can hear it, but here is pretty stable, looks very real doesn’t it?”

Matt, having woken up not three minutes earlier blinks at Dom, not knowing whether the man is mad or not. Did...did he hear that right?

“Oh- don’t give me that look, I’m telling the truth,” Dom sighs, nodding to the land around them, “This isn’t real, none of this is real, this stone here-,”

He crouches down, picking up a loose rock from the floor, it’s barely bigger than his fist and flickers a little as he tosses it between his hands.

“-is not real either,” 

Wide eyed, Matt watches as the rock crumbles away into green code in Dom’s hands, before not even a flicker of it is left over. All at once the ground feels so close yet to far away, the sky feels as if crushing down on Matt, yet also unreachable, and the air seems to flood his lungs as well as choke him out.

“This whole world isn’t real, Matt. We are standing in a simulation, nothing here is real,” Dom clarifies, reaching out a hand to steady Matt, who teeters on wobbling legs at the rush of the news.

“I’m real,” Matt murmurs, the noise barely perceptible to the blonde man, “I’m real,”

The words are spoken more to assure himself than to tell Dom, but he nods along anyway, the movement enough to make the smaller man’s eyes snap to him. Within their blue irises, an unending ocean seems to swirl with storms, glazed over with the distinct sparkle of unfallen tears and the gleam of fear.

“Are you real?”

Dom looks at Matt with blank eyes, his blink slow and deliberate.

“Yes,” he says, simply, as if such a thing should be obvious.

Silence blankets them for a moment, though not the comforting kind, rather, the kind that settles when one has discovered something life changing, something that even the worst nightmares and the bleakest dreams cannot conjure, something that a mortal mind cannot begin to comprehend. At that moment, Matt falls to his knees, watching as the dust from the sandy stone fizzles away in the empty air, casting faceless shadows on him, on Dom. A silent glance behind him confirms his lone thought: he has no shadow here.

But what shadow could he have? 

There is no sun to shine on him now.

He kneels at the centre of a simulated world, the sky void of any sun or star, and the land void of anything real and known to him. His only comfort is that he can still feel himself, still feel the pulse of blood through his veins and the rush of air through his lungs - at least he is real.  Letting out a shuddering sigh, Matt closes his eyes to the world, wishing and praying that some god somewhere hears his pleas and returns him home. But whether the gods do not hear, or there are none to listen, Matt doesn’t know - he only knows that he is trapped in this maze of code and computers.  A hand reaches out to brush his cheek, the fingers warm and soft against his skin. It is only now that Matt realises he’s crying, the tears silent as he wades through his endless thoughts and musings.

“Don’t cry,” Dom whispers, brushing the tears away from Matt’s cheeks, “I’ve been looking for a way out for a long time, and I think I’ve nearly found it,”

At that, Matt’s eyes flicker open, the pools of deep blue glowing with a semblance of hope.

“Really?” his voice is naught more than a whisper, the word barely a breath. But it’s enough for Dom to hear, and to confirm with a small smile and a nod.

“Yes. And with two of us, it should take half the time to find it,” 

Something in his tone makes Matt feel assured, as well as making him feel as if he has known Dom for years, so much so that he doesn’t mind it when he wipes the tears from his face, nor does he mind when he helps Matt to his feet with a helping hand.

“Come on then, I think there’s some buildings over in that direction - I’ve been around here before - they might give us more clues as to how to get out,” Dom starts walking, beckoning the shorter man to follow.

On wobbly legs, Matt jogs after Dom, his mind now cast on the thought of escaping the simulation.


	2. TWO--Welcome To The Infinite Black Skies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Two!

“Ah, civilisation, at last,” Dom snorts, hopping over a crack in the road to the lone, half crumbled, building. Although it’s roof is mostly intact, less so can be said for the windows, which peer out into the fading light like dark eyes, watching as the two men approach on cautious feet.  The building sits in a small car park, the zig-zag lines marked across it’s tarmac kept in perfect condition by the simulation, as is the smooth looking cars dotted around - well, by appearance at least, Matt has yet to try starting one up, and who knows what the simulation has in store for them.

“Yeah, completely civilised,” Matt responds, eyeing the few remaining shards of glass that linger in the window frames, obscuring the insides to him.

Despite there being no sun, there seems to be some semblance of passing time, indicated only by the dulling of the sky first to a muddy grey, then to the blazing pink it is now - much like during a sunset back home. Matt manages to draw a little comfort from this, knowing that at least this world isn’t entirely alien to him.

“Let’s go in, there might be something useful for us inside,” Dom kicks away the largest of the glass shards, making the window marginally safer for them to enter through. He goes through first, leaving Matt no choice but to follow him through. Although he’s careful not to put his hand in any of the glass, the dark haired man slips a little as he comes in, snagging his red jumper and ripping a whole in the sleeve of it. 

“You okay?” Dom asks, watching Matt carefully pick the glass out of his sleeve with a furrowed brow, “You didn’t cut yourself, did you?”

Shaking his head, Matt starts forward again, only to be stopped by Dom, who flings out an arm to stop him going further.

“It may seem quiet now, but there are  _ things  _ out there, ones that have been programmed to obey orders - orders which seem to be drink blood and kill humans,” Dom warns, his expression stern, “If they catch even a whiff of your blood you’re done for,”

“Oh,” Matt utters, shoulders drooping a little at the thought of whatever these things are coming after him for something as small as a paper cut - heck, he doesn’t even know what they’re supposed to look like, only that he should fear them.

With that warning sorted, Dom is satisfied enough that the empty building - which looks to have been designed as a shop, what with all the empty shelves - is safe for the two of them to explore, and he sets around poking at the untouched till on the desk while Matt wanders the dark aisles. 

The layout is not too dissimilar to that of his local shop, with the fridges even lining the side wall - exactly as they are in his local - however here they remain unlit and empty. It’s almost as if the creator of the simulation did not want to fill his world with people, with life, and instead leave it only as an empty monument to what might have been, what would have been. But still, if this world is empty of people as such, then who shattered the windows?  Sure, Dom could’ve been here before now, explored the same place, and merely wanted to come again - but he would’ve mentioned it. Maybe it’s the  _ things  _ Dom mentioned, the creatures that could gobble Matt up in one bite. Maybe its something else.

Sighing to himself Matt trails a hand across the shelves, which lie completely clean and void of dust despite being empty for a while. Somewhere over the other side of the shop, Dom clatters around with the till - god only knows what he’s looking for - the various clangs and bangs of which making Matt scurry across the room to where his friend is.  With one brow raised, he watches as the blonde man tinkers around in the machine, his tongue peeking out between his lips with concentration. Eventually, something snaps inside the till, and Dom rocks back on his heels with a grunt.

“Broke it,” he mutters, using the desk corner to pull himself from the floor.

“Broke what?” 

“The till,” Dom sighs, “Sometimes, if you do it right, you can just about see the code that makes up the till and the shop- and if you find a bug or break in the code its very easy to mess with it,”

“Oh,” Matt raises a brow.

“If you mess with it you can break the simulation, each crack in it is one step closer so escaping it,” he finishes, knowing Matt has utterly no idea what he was talking about at first.

With that explanation, the dark haired man’s eyes light up with the hope of escape, momentarily forgetting that Dom has been here a  _ while.  _ How long that while is exactly he has yet to discover, but he’ll find out soon enough.

Nodding, Matt leans over the desk and shrugs his shoulders at Dom.

“What now?” he asks, picking at the dirt beneath his nails - ah, even if there is no dirt here he can’t help but feel grubby without having had a shower since he woke up.

He waits for an answer but does not receive one, no, instead he looks up to find Dom staring out of the window, head cocked to the side as if listening to something.

“Dom? Are you--” Matt’s words are cut off by Dom raising a hand to silence him, his eyes still trained on the window beyond.

By now it is dark outside, the starless sky an unending stretch of black. Their only light comes from the faint, glowing lamps that run along the corners of the room, the glow they emit being that of a soft, neon pink. The illumination is soft, despite the white walls and empty shelves, and almost makes Matt want to settle down and go to sleep - which he likely would, if not for the racing of his heart in response to Dom’s expression.

“There’s something out there,” he explains, his voice hushed and low. 

After that he speaks no more, instead only gesturing to Matt to get behind the till desk with him and crouch on the floor, hiding from whatever it is out there. Between the gaps in the desk panels, Matt can she a single moving shadow outside, accompanied by the bright, luminescent flicker of a torch, it’s brilliant white beam cutting through the darkness to glare into the shop. As it cuts across the room, the beam fracturing on the various shelves and aisles, Dom ducks down too, wedging Matt between him and the desk panels.

Unable to move and stuck in place, Matt can’t help but peer through the gap again, watching as a tall man steps into the building, entering through the same window he had slipped through not ten minutes ago.

He wears what Matt can only describe as a police uniform: his shirt is marked with a shield badge, and his belt holds a holster, in which a simple pistol sits, ready to be retrieved at any moment. The policeman’s brows are furrowed into a straight line, and his lips pressed into an equally dissatisfied grimace - but his eyes wander around the room, following the trail of his torch light to spot any movement in the building.  Despite himself, Matt almost wants to shout out at him, to say ‘don’t shoot! We’re humans just like you! We’re trying to escape come with us!’, but something deep inside him makes him stay silent. Eventually, Dom leans close, his breath hot on Matt’s skin as he whispers to him.

“He’s been following me for a while now,” he explains, pausing only to make sure the police man hasn’t heard anything, “His name is Chris, he’s part of the simulation,”

Nodding slowly, despite knowing Dom probably won't see the movement, Matt looks back at the man, who looks as real as possible. But, like many things here, he is not real. He is another piece of code, programmed to obey orders.

“He’s...formidable, now. He used to be nice, sweet even, but- there’s a glitch in his code, he used to help me, now he chases me,” Dom continues, keeping his voice barely above a whisper, “We need to get out,”

“Like this,” Dom shuffles back, giving Matt the room he needs to breathe before he stands up, arms raised at Chris.

“Nice to meet you again Chris!” he waves, sounding for all the world as if he’s chatting to his friendly neighbour, not the man who is currently pointing a gun at him.

“Are- are you mad?” Matt hisses, shuffling out behind him but keeping himself on the floor - in doing so remaining undetected by Chris.

Dom doesn’t respond for a moment, instead he keeps his eyes focused on the still hunter, who glares unyieldingly at Dom as if compelled to shoot and do nothing all at once.

“Run now Matt! Get out and get in a car,” Dom yells suddenly, launching himself at Chris with a growl, “Run!”

Seizing the opportunity, Matt leaps up from his hiding place and races across the shop floor, knowing Chris is currently too busy scrapping with Dom to go after him. With barely three steps he has vaulted out of the window and smashed into the nearest car, which - thankfully - is not the one belonging to Chris. As quick as he can, Matt scrabbles to open the door, and finds it clicks open easily, without the need for a key; maybe being in a simulated reality has some advantages, after all. Once inside he stares at the dashboard for any clues of how to start, the smooth looking car seemingly needs no key to start, and eventually he finds the button to switch the engine on. It hums into life smoothly, the neon lights on the dashboard flickering on with a swift fade, and the headlights automatically click on, illuminating the road ahead.

With his eyes focussed on the shop windows, Matt nearly jumps out of his skin when the car gives a warning beep - it’s bleating cry warning him that his seatbelt has not been put on. As quick as he can he’s strapped himself in, eyes once again trained on the door to watch for Dom’s escape...he may have told him to run and get a car but did he tell him what to do them? Did he fuck.

So Matt sits there, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckled hands, taking deep breaths to calm himself down and to prepare for a quick getaway. After what seems like an age Dom comes hurtling through the window, his face marked with a dark bruise, and his arms littered with a few scratches, but overall, he’s intact. With barely three steps Dom has barrelled into the car and wrenched the door open, flinging himself onto the passenger seat as Matt puts his foot down, sending the car squealing out o the carpark and down the road. Once glance in the mirror tells him Chris is doing the same, the harsh lights of his patrol car following them down the road.

“Jesus christ,” Dom huffs, wiggling around in his seat as he catches his breath, “That was a close one,”

Keeping his concentration on the road ahead, Matt can only nod at Dom’s words, lest the car slip out of his control and they crash the damn thing. Matt’s not sure he wants to discover what happens if he dies in the simulation.

“Drive faster,” Dom plugs in his seatbelt and collapses against his chair, glaring at the cuts and bruises along his arms, “I forgot how sharp his nails are,”

“You’re okay though, right?” Matt asks, calming his frayed nerves by focussing on the road.

“Yeah,” Dom twists around to look out the back window, “We won't be if you don’t put your foot down. This car can go twice the speed as his, get to it,”

“What?” 

“Put your foot down!”

“I- I can’t, I’ll lose control!”

“No, you won’t,” Dom turns back, his steel eyes blazing in the neon lights of the dashboard. He reaches out to it, pressing a button that bleeps pleasantly, and all at once Matt feels the car change, the wheels steering themselves to keep in a straight line, avoiding any and all potholes.

“Put your foot down, Matt,” 

Biting his lip, Matt grips onto the wheel for dear life and slams his foot down. The car jerks beneath him, its engine roaring as it strains to meet the demand - they shoot off down the road, the empty shop but a burnt memory in the flames of the exhaust, and leave Chris on his own, to begin his endless chase once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So guys, what do you think so far? <3 I hope you enjoy it!


	3. THREE--I Never Sleep or Rest but I'm Still Running Out of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3!

Despite being at the wheel of a speeding car, Matt sleeps rather peacefully for an hour or two. Even so, Dom isn’t worried, not with the autopilot switched on - another advantage of the simulation. Yes, they’re safe now. In the time that has passed since their escape, the twilight outside has faded to a pleasant orange, indicating dawn. It’s the light of this that wakes Matt, who jumps into the waking world with a start, letting out a gasp when he realises he’s at the wheel of the car, which has thankfully slowed down considerably since last night.

“Wh-what? How long was I asleep?” he asks Dom, taking hold of the wheel once more - he knows it won’t help anything, but it makes it feel normal. It makes him feel normal.

“Only an hour and a bit,” Dom peers out of the window, “I know where we are, there should be a city a few more miles down the road,”

Raising his brow, Matt lets out a breath at he stares out at the empty wasteland.

“How do you recognise this? There’s nothing out there,” he blinks, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Look forward, Matt,” Dom snorts, “It’s the graveyard,”

Peering through the windshield, Matt stares at the straight road ahead, which stretches out over a deep canyon, and is guarded by monstrous robots. Glowing purple, the canyon seems endless as they drive onto the bridge, only the shadows of unmoving androids give any sense of depth. Some of them still rise above the road, almost like a tunnel, their vast, metal carcasses looming overhead in some mockery of their power in life.

“Wow,” Matt hums, twisting in his seat to gaze into the darkened eyes of one of the robots, whose dead face is on level with the road.

“Yeah, these things have been here longer than me. Not sure what they were for, or why they’re now...dead,” Dom explains, “Cool, though,”

“It is,” Matt hums, before something that has been plaguing his mind takes over again, “That policeman--Chris--he had a gun...what do we do if he finds us again?”

Looking at Matt, Dom flicks open the glove compartment on the dashboard, revealing a pistol lying there.

“What?” Matt squeaks, “How did you know that was there?”

“This isn’t the first car I’ve stolen, Matt, the cars in this world always have them,” Dom explains, “Not entirely sure why...but they come in handy,”

Nodding, Matt turns back to the road, his mind soothed a little at the security of having something to fight back with.

They lapse into silence, both mulling over their own thoughts as they speed through the graveyard - which seems to drag on into an eternity...Dom is sure the code gets repeated a few times here. Eventually, Matt relaxes into his seat again, eyelids drooping as he succumbs to sleep once more. Outside the Graveyard, the sky is bright, nearly white with the simulated light, but here, beneath the shadows of the metal carcasses, the sky is a distant purple smudge, with few cracks of light here and there. 

Below the highway, the purple darkens into a black abyss, interrupted only by the occasional flash of a still dying robot. Eventually, however, the depthless dark gives way to a shallower swamp, still shrouded in pinkish mist, that rests only a few meters below the smooth concrete of the road. Dom’s happy to watch this roll by in silence, the robots here more aged and worn than the ones by the edge, perhaps predating those, and him.

“Oh my god,” Matt starts suddenly, the movement of his jumping away making the car judder a little, “Did I fall asleep again?”

“Yeah, do you want to swap seats? So you can sleep without worrying about the car?” Dom offers, stretching his arms out in front of himself, “I’ll give me something to do, you know, while you’re snoring away,”

Wide eyed, Matt sits upright as he presses on the car’s brakes.

“I don’t snore,” he squeaks, voice suddenly high, “Do I?”

“Uh, yeah,” Dom rolls his head to look at the man, who by now has turned a bright red, biting his lip in embarrassment at the noise, “Cute snores though, very, uh, quiet,”

Unsure of how to respond, Matt stays quiet, concentrating on slowing down the car at a reasonable pace - well, he doesn’t want to give himself whiplash, does he?

“Have _ you _slept?” he asks, eventually, as the car glides to a halt.

He makes no move to unbuckle himself, instead waiting for Dom’s answer.

“I don’t sleep much, Matt,” his reply comes, far too quickly for either of their liking, “I don’t need it,”

“Okay, okay,” Matt holds his hands up in mock surrender at the sharp tone of the blonde’s voice, “Don’t overdo yourself,”

With a click of the door, he’s out of the car, feet planted on the endless highway as he sucks in a deep breath. Dom spills out onto the road too, watching as Matt’s shirt rides up his torso as he stretches for what feels to be an age by the side of the smooth, black painted car. As they cross over, to swap seats, Dom catches a movement in the distance over Matt’s shoulder, barely a flicker of a shadow, but it’s there nonetheless. Freezing, he stares at the spot once more, his view half blocked by the steel ribs of a robot.

There it is again, that movement.

“Matt,” he asks, stopping his friend with the single syllable, “Matt do you see that?”

“See what?”

“Look,”

“What?”

“_ Look _,”

“I-I don’t see anything,” Matt sighs, standing at Dom’s side as they both stare out into the infinite swamp.

The purple haze seems to thicken at that moment, and what little light that penetrates the gloom is swallowed up by the rusted metal carcasses, leaving the two men to stand in the headlights of their own car, watching the fog.

“Dom, I don’t see anything, what did you see?” Matt tries again, his voice high and reedy, with a little tremble towards the end.

It was probably just one of the ancient robots settling in the ever changing swamp, there won’t be anything alive out there. Yes, that’s what Dom tells himself, as Matt tugs at his sleeve to beg for an answer. Mentally slapping himself, Dom turns to look at Matt, who stares back with wide eyes, their blue hues pale against the magenta light. Why did he have to point that out, hm? Why did he have to draw attention to what must’ve been a dead robot shifting as the silt slides beneath its vast, metal body? Why did he mention this to the man who has just arrived here, who is terrified enough of the simulation and doesn’t even know the full extent of the dangers here?

Why?

“Nothing,” he mumbles, eventually, “Just a trick of the light,”

Huffing, Matt stomps over to the passenger side, muttering something that sounds a lot like ‘wanker’ as he does so. With one last glance to the robot graveyard, Dom returns to the car too, letting Matt settle down in his seat before starting the car again, this time putting his foot down instantly - making it go even faster than Matt had driven it. Despite his tiredness, Matt stays wide away for this ride, clinging onto the edges of his seat as Dom pushes the car to impossibly fast speeds, enough so that the highway is barely visible through the blur of greys and purples that flash by.

Oh, at least this ride will be a short one.


	4. FOUR--A Starlight in the Gloom

“Shit! Matt! Wake up,” a voice swims through the darkness, “Oi! Come on, wake up!”

Wiping sleep from his eyes, Matt struggles against the restraints of sleep, but his body seems to have other ideas, and it takes him a few tries to open his eyes properly. When he manages it, he sees that they are still on the highway above the graveyard, the sky around them being lit up by some bright headlights - and not the ones on the front of their car.

“What’s going on?” Matt mumbles, aware that Dom is driving at a ridiculously fast speed. Subconsciously, he grabs hold of the dashboard, pressing himself further back into his seat in reaction to the scenery flying by.

“Uhm, well,” Dom starts, taking his time to find the right words, “Well, you remember when I said that all these robots are dead, right?”

“Yeah,”

“Well- ah, this one isn’t,”

“What?”

“Yeah this one is alive, feisty bugger too,”

“Wh-what does that mean, Dom?”

“The robot is chasing us, he’s very angry, and has tried to crush the car multiple times,”

“Oh my god,” Matt gasps, gaping at the fact that Dom is so calm about this, “Oh my god will it kill us?”

There’s silence from Dom, the sort that seems to blanket the moment, drowning out the quiet hum of the engine and the roll of the wheels across the smooth tarmac. A muscle feathers in his jaw, his grip on the steering wheel tightens to the point it feels almost uncomfortable.

“I hope not,” he says, after a moment’s consideration, the slight waver to his voice making Matt tense even more in his seat.

Not knowing what to say next, Matt shoots a glance out of the window, his eyes quickly finding the wing mirror at his side - there he sees the silver figure looming over them, the bright glare of its lights seeming to suck the light out of the sky around it, so much so that Matt doesn’t see the clawed, steel hands as they come crashing down behind the car, tearing through the road as if the thick concrete is as fragile as paper. Not two seconds after the crash of broken road reaches his ears, sending him jolting upright in his seat once more as Dom pushes his foot down harder on the pedal, letting it race as fast as it possible can.

“What do we do?” Matt asks, his voice high and reedy with fear.

“We keep going,” Dom’s reply is short, curt almost, “And when we find shelter, we shelter,”

Somewhere behind them there’s a mechanical roar, the noise louder than a thousand thunderstorms at once. It pierces Matt’s ears, reverberating through his very bones as he dares another glance to the mirror, to see the monster rearing up once more, defiant of their retreat. Those claws of it’s rip through the road as it claws its way up, the very tips of it’s fingers far too close to the back end of the car for his liking - but that’s where they stay, always a few meters away from the rear bumper, threatening to grab it and tear it, yet never quite reaching.

“Stop looking at it,” Dom orders out of nowhere, “You’ll only scare yourself,”

At that, Matt snaps his head back to the front, not allowing his eyes to wander to any of the mirrors as he stares out at the straight road, at the central, white lines racing by beneath the wheels of the car.

Eventually, they leave the gloom of the Graveyard behind, the read taking them instead through some sloping mountains, the winding path forcing them to slow down considerably. At least the change of terrain also slowed down the hulking robot, which struggles to get through the narrow passes - and eventually they leave it behind too.

But neither men are relaxed, no, not with the image of it rising up to tear apart the road still lingering in their minds. Even so, they lapse into a comfortable silence as they drive, and soon enough they begin to see glimpses of neon towers through the gaps in the valleys, their pink and blue lights contrasting with the lush green grass.

“Is that the city you mentioned?” Matt asks, trying to shake off some of the fear that still grips him.

“Yeah,” Dom laughs, a lot calmer now there isn’t a giant robot after them, “It’s very nice there you might like it,”

“Are there- are there others there? You know, like me and you?” he asks, watching as simulated winds push at the grass on the hills, and the sky fades to a soft blue - were it not for that face that there is no sun, or clouds, Matt would be able to believe he was back home, driving down the highway to the next city.

“No, it’ll just be us,” Dom admits, his tone almost apologetic, “To be honest, Matt, I don’t know if there are others out there. There may well be people like you, who arrived without knowing why or how, but not all of them will have the luck to run into someone who is willing to help, if they find anyone at all,”

“Oh,” Matt sighs, turning again to look out of the window, “Do you think those monsters you told me about get to them?”

“Probably,” 

Again, that silence passes over them, with Matt succumbing to his own thoughts once more.

“I miss food,” he says, very suddenly, “I’m not hungry but, I miss the normalcy of eating,”

Dom merely looks at him, his eyes glittering with amusement.

“What? Don’t you miss it too?” Matt laughs, “I really, really miss pasta,”

“Okay, okay,” Dom laughs, “There might be - oh I don’t know - a simulated pasta shop in the city,”

“ _ Simulated _ pasta, can I eat code?”

“I’ve never tried to eat coded pasta. I tried brie once, you know it? It’s a cheese,”

“Yeah, a gay cheese- who eats brie nowadays?”

“What? You don’t like brie? It’s a French cheese, and it's very nice,”

Scoffing, Matt shakes his head at his friend’s taste in cheese.

Peeking out of the window, Matt continues to watch as the hills roll by, trying to ignore the growing cramps in his legs - he’s been sat like this for a good few hours now, and if he doesn’t get out to stretch soon he fears he might lose his legs. Out on the slopes, a pair of robots prance amongst the flowers and grass, their bodies naught more than metal frames with wires powering their limbs - from the shape of them Matt guesses them to be deer. The deer pause as the car passes, their eyes glowing a static blue as they seem to watch Matt as much as he watches them. But he knows they’re not real, that their bodies are synthetic and their movements programmed. 

They are merely another part of the simulation.

Smiling softly to himself, Matt continues to stare out of the window, trying to identify the robotic animals that frolic in the meadows - even though he can see their wires and cages and LEDs, the fact that they move so realistically brings back that sense of normalcy, one that will be improved when he’s able to eat food - even if it is only code - and that will be completed when he returns home.

_If_ he returns home.

Sighing, Matt leans back in his seat and turns his attention back to the car, it’s smooth, creamy interior reminding him so much of the car his mum has back home. Aside from the bright, neon dashboard, he sees the radio, switched on but silent.

“Does the radio work?” he ventures, indicating at the box beneath the dashboard.

“Might do, not sure if there’s many stations out here though,” Dom chuckles, “Not much of a market for Algorithm FM,”

“Oh, well, there’s no harm in trying,” Matt prods at the buttons, hoping one of them will kick it into life, “I miss music, too,”

After stabbing at a few buttons, Matt manages to get some noise out of the radio - the music sounding exactly as the simulation feels. Synthetic. Electronic. Hypnotic.

“Do you play?” Dom interrupts over the synthwave washing over their car, “An instrument, I mean,”

“Yeah, I play guitar. And I sing,” Matt confesses, pushing down the rise of emotions as he thinks about how much he misses his guitar, “You?”

Shaking his head, Dom releases the steering wheel with one hand, instead using it to rest his head on.

“Nah, but I’ve always wanted to try drums, you know,” he hums, sparing a quick glance towards Matt, “So, what sort of stuff do you sing?”

At that, Matt is quiet, not entirely sure if he wants to confess that he writes his own lyrics, preferring to express his own thoughts rather than to interpret someone else’s. After a moment’s hesitation he turns down the volume of the radio, and clears his throat.

“Lips are turning blue, a kiss that can't renew, I only dream of you, my beautiful,” he begins, singing the lyrics to the song he had just begun to write before all this happened, “Tiptoe to your room, a starlight in the gloom, I only dream of you, and you never knew- I- I haven’t written more than that,”

At his side, Dom sits there, brows raised in surprise at the pureness of Matt’s voice.

“Wow,” he hums, eyes twinkling with tears, “You wrote that yourself?”

“Yeah,”

“It’s beautiful, Matt, the lyrics are- oh my God. And your voice, you could sing angels to sleep, you know that,”

“It's not  _ that  _ good…” Matt brushes off the praise, still not knowing how to deal with it despite people telling him this stuff for years.

“It is,” Dom confirms, “Who is it about?”

For once, Matt doesn’t quite have an answer for that, or, at least, not one he can think of over the knot of nerves in his stomach: he’s never sang for someone without a backing track before, or a band.

“I’m not sure, the lyrics came to me in a dream,” Matt explains, “I woke up and they were just there,”

Nodding, Dom turns the radio back up, letting the soft beats wash over the two of them once more. 

“Only half an hour or so until we reach the city, and find you some pasta,” he chuckles, but his laugh falls flat, with his mind replaying the lyrics and the morose melody over and over.


	5. FIVE--It Scares the Hell Out of Me

Matt can’t describe it as abandoned. No, abandoned implies that there once was something, or someone, inhabiting the space. Abandoned means that the endless reams of code once had a purpose, and that the streams of binary had a use.  There has never been anyone here.  No one has looked upon the mirrored towers, whose neon tips scrape at the black sky. No one has wandered the rigid streets, their footsteps echoing off the valley of buildings. No one has worked in nor visited the kiosks, which sit at street corners and buzz with the glow of neon lights.  Matt also can’t describe it as dead, as that would imply that it was once alive, once brimming with folk who live and work in the neon megacity. 

They are the first to tread this ground.

With the car parked neatly in an empty bay - of which there are a multitude - Matt and Dom had decided to wander the streets for a little while, at least until they find the promised pasta shop. Alas, no such luck is to be had for the two men, who meander aimlessly through the streets, heading back in the vague direction of their car. Dejected, Matt drags his feel at little as they cross over the black brick promenade, the overhead lights blocked by the trees from which leaves will never fall.

“Keep up Matt, I don’t want you out here alone,” Dom calls from ahead, the worry in his tone evident to Matt even from this distance.

“Why? It’s not like there’s anyone else out here,” Matt says, “If there was, they would’ve shown themselves,”

“You don’t know that,” Dom calls back from where he now stands at the cross section of two roads, “Come on, the car was just down here,”

Stopping, Matt squints at the other man, weighing up the hunched shoulders and furrowed brows.

“Calm- what’s gotten into you?” Matt asks, shoving his hands into his pockets and refusing to come any further.

“I don’t know, I- I just feel like something is watching us, you know,” Dom rests his hands on his hips, “I feel uneasy,”

Shrugging his shoulders, Matt makes move to set off again, but the movement of a shadow makes him pause. The shadow rises and stretches, stepping out from the darkness and into the light to reveal it’s metal facade and wicked grin: the robot has found them.

“Dom, you need to run,” Matt breathes, his words carried away on the false wind.

“What?”

“ _ Don’t _ turn around, just start running,” 

At that moment the robot roars, the noise so mechanical yet so human all at once. Barely a second later, Dom’s eyes go wide as he jumps into a run, feet pounding beneath him as he races away from the danger.

After barely two seconds Matt starts running too, heading for the empty doorway of the nearest building. He’s not sure whether the throbbing in his ears is the sound of his blood pounding or Dom’s feet on the pavement - but he prays it’s the latter, he prays to the god with binary for eyes and code for a mind that Dom is right behind him, that Dom will make it to safety too.  With a grunt, he crashes through the door and scrambled through the lobby, taking shelter behind the unused desk. After a second of silence, he peeks over the countertop, earning an unblocked view of the street outside. 

A gush of relief rushes through him when he sees Dom pass first by the window, then to the doorway, but that warming relief freezes over as he spots the shape lumbering behind him. In one movement he rises up, trying to warn Dom of what is to come, but alas, the robot is too fast for either men, and those metal, clawed hands of its come tearing through the doorway, snatching Dom up before he has a chance to scream.

Frozen to the spot, Matt can only watch as his companion is hauled away by the 20ft metal monstrosity.

A second could have passed since, a minute, an hour- but Matt remains frozen, his limbs frosty with the fear that threatens to crumple him as his mind replays the image of Dom and the robot over and over.

He’s gone.

Taken.

There's a shuddering, shaking sound in the dark lobby, and all at once Matt realises it’s his own breathing - shallow and weak. The weight of the situation crushes down on his chest, threatening to suffocate him as he crashes to his knees, a choked sob catching in his throat.

He’s lost his way of escape. He’s lost his friend.

Tears, hot and bitter, roll down his cheeks and splash on the tiled floor. He tries to hold them back at first, pushing them down along with the rest of emotions that swarm inside him. But eventually they prove too much, and so he yields to the tears, he yields to the fear and the agony, and he lets his emotions soar out between jagged breaths and wailing cries.

It’s still dark when Matt awakes, curled on his side beneath the desk. Now the tears have dried, leaving his eyes red and sore, and his head pounds with the remnants of emotions. Sitting up, he swears to himself softly, the word tumbling out without a thought.

He needs to find Dom.

On shaking limbs he pulls himself up, biting his lip to stop himself crying when he looks at the shattered doorway - the last place he saw Dom - and begins to pick his way out of the lobby, making sure to check the streets are silent, empty.

Before he had felt odd, knowing that he and Dom were the only people to have walked these streets. Now he only feels alone. Unguided. Lost. Wrapping his arms around himself, he wanders down the street, the automatic action of looking both ways before crossing the road something he doesn’t register. Nor does he register walking to the carpark, or opening the car door.  But there he stops, his eyes focused on something beyond the car, something hanging in the window of the empty shop.

It’s a suit, but not one he’d wear for dinner. The suit is made of a black material, covered on most points with what look to be LED screens, but as Matt gets closer he sees them for what they are - armour plates. Armour,  _ protection _ . Safety. There’s no label on it, only three of the suits hanging in the window, so Matt sucks in a deep breath.

One. Two. Three.

On three he kicks the window, reeling back as it shatters into a thousand tiny pieces, all of which come raining down on him and the suit. When he opens his eyes again he spots a few tiny cuts on his hands, and feels at least another three on his face - even though they bleed only a little the sight of them sends shockwaves through his mind.  He’s not forgotten what Dom said, about the creatures that will come after him if he spills so much as a drop of blood - he doesn’t have much time.

Without caring for the rest of his limbs, Matt vaults into the shop and is pulling on one of the suits almost before he’s hit the ground, doing his best to cover up his cuts and bruises with the thick, black fabric. A pair of glasses sit in one of the pockets, which he fishes out and puts on without thinking, within seconds the bright green LED has flashed into life, allowing him to see more clearly in the darkness.  On his way out, he grabs another suit - for Dom, he tells himself. And he prays the man is still living to wear it.

With the car in his sights, his glasses flash with the car’s name, and registration number, making Matt pause for a moment. Ah, so these are smart glasses, not just any old sunglasses!

He’s barely taken two more steps when something flies at him, knocking him to the ground and forcing the air out of his lungs. Writhing beneath it, he fends off the teeth and claws with one arm, and attempts to pull himself away with his other. Chunks of fur come loose in his hands as he wriggles about, only for another one to pounce onto him, teeth snapping.

Out of nowhere there’s a squeal of tyres, a yell, then the crack of a gunshot - once, twice, thrice. The grip of the creatures above him slackens enough for him to roll out from beneath them. Sprawled on his front, Matt drags himself to his elbows as he regains his breath.

Hoping to thank his saviour, Matt looks up to find a figure stood at the far end on the car park, his face mostly covered by dark sunglasses and the wide brimmed hat atop his head.

“_You_,” the figure shouts, shoving his gun back into its holster at his hip, “Where’s Howard?”

Blinking, Matt waits for the glasses to focus on the figure, the name that flashes up familiar to him.  _ Chris Wolstenholme.  _ With a swear, Matt scrambled to his feet, taking the spare suit with him, and lumbers over to his car, diving into the front seat and using his foot to kick shut the door as he does so.

Once upright, he wastes no time in putting his foot on the pedal, and placing his shaking hands onto the steering wheel. Without knowing where he’s going, Matt steers the car out of the car park, narrowly avoiding Chris - who leaps into his own car as if to give chase.  Damn, Matt thought they’d lost the policeman, but it seems he was not the only one following them. Matt doesn’t bother looking in his rear mirror as he hears the scream of sirens behind him, nor as he sees the red and blue flashes reflected in the facade of buildings. 

Even so, the chase of the policeman means little to him now, no, not when he’s begun a chase of his own.


	6. SIX--And I Need the Touch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope yall like something human i cringed reading this back but loved writing this heheeheheehehehh

The path of the robot is evident in the heavy footprints and scrapes of metal on concrete, and despite Matt still running from Chris, his driving is slow, as if anticipating an attack from the steel monstrosity that abducted his friend. Here the streets are dark, the buildings shrouded with shadows from the endless towers, and the tarmac barely tinted with the distant glow of the neon city lights.

Only the pale lights on the car’s dashboard give Matt any scope to see, with the headlights turned off for what he hopes to be a stealthy arrival...he has no wish to lose the upper hand with this one. There--a flicker of movement around the corner, a flashing light, the distinct noise of metal on metal. As he reaches the cross section of two dark streets, Matt stops, switching off the car’s engine as he slips out of it’s smooth interior, retrieving the pistol from the glove compartment as he goes.

With the pistol in one hand, he steps forth from the darkness, turning left to where the robot still lumbers, its eyes glowing with a wicked white light--it looks to be guarding the building it patrols around, the only building that is illuminated on the entire street...maybe it put Dom in there. Out of nowhere, his suit flashes into life, the LED screens lining his limbs turning white, illuminating the street around him.

Not that he’s bothered, he wants the robot to look at him, he needs it too.

The roar it makes deafens him for a moment, the sound nearly painful to hear as it scrapes its claws along the nearest building. Shattered glass and steel rains down in a shower of sparks, as Matt rolls away from the danger, his glasses flashing to warn him of the approaching robot.  His pistol should be useless, but as he aims it at the robot, those green sights on his glasses flare into action, identifying the robot as a MURPH-CW1 model, the crosshairs wander around, trying to locate the weak spot--then they focus, coming to a stop right in the centre of it’s head. They flash white when the robot opens its mouth, indicating to Matt that the weak spot--the killzone--is in its head. It’s brain.

Sucking in a breath, Matt aims and fires once, wincing as the bullet goes awry and ricochets off the creature’s jaw. Not two seconds later its huge hand comes slamming down, forcing Matt to roll away once more.

Again he aims, again he misses.

He doesn’t have many chances. By now the robot is angry, its eyes flashing red every now and then in a threat of death. Matt tries again, and again he misses, his hands shaking too much for him to focus.

As the robot closes in again, his suit flares with a bright blue, then switches off, giving Matt the shadows and cover he needs to run, to find a new spot to lie in wait. This time, he thinks it through, and instead of facing the robot head on in the centre of the street he picks a doorway to linger in. As silent as he can, he checks the bullets in the pistol--only two left--and takes aim at the robot’s head, his suit flashes on again, the white light startling both him and the robot, which makes to advance on him, its metal form blocking out what little light the surrounding towers gave as it rears up.

Squinting, Matt readies himself, his finger twitching above the trigger ever so slightly as the robot comes back down, its jaw widening. Just a little more, he prays, just a little more.

Just a little more and he can shoot, just a little more and he will hit the weak spot.

But instead the robot turns, glaring at another figure down the street. 

For a second, Matt’s heart jumps to his mouth, thinking it’s Dom. But, no, it’s not, it’s Chris, his stark uniform camouflaging against the darkness as he advances on the robot, his own gun aimed up at it.

With this distraction, Matt sees his chance, and crosses the street to the doorway the robot was guarding. Once there, he tugs open the door and falls in, landing amongst tangled cables and shattered motherboards. The layout here is the same as the lobby he hid in previously, yet there’s no sign of Dom...but why else would the robot be guarding the building.

“Dom?” Matt ventures, his voice far too quiet due to the sounds of a fight outside.

As the robot gives a huge roar, the lights inside flicker, growing dimmer by the second. Confused, Matt races to the window to see what’s happened, to find the robot, severely weakened by whatever attack Chris gave it--but its hand is gripping the outside of the building, the distinct hum of electricity passing from one device to another loud over the robot’s shuddering.

It’s fixing itself, drawing strength from the endless code.

“Dom?” Matt yells, his tone more urgent now as he returns to the centre of the room, hoping to get his friend out before the robot is back at full power.

Somewhere distant, there’s a quiet cry--one Matt can just make out as being his name: it’s from upstairs. Swearing, Matt sets off at a run towards the stairs, making it barely halfway up when the whole world shudders, and the lights fade with a pop. The sounds of the fight outside return, as Matt’s suit flares into life once more, illuminating the stark corridor around him as he races to follow the sound of his own name.

“Dom? Where are you?” he asks again, straining to listen for the response over the scream of metal on concrete outside.

“In here! At the front of the building! Hurry!” Dom calls back, his voice muffled by a closed door--one that is locked when Matt reaches it.

Well, he’s already broke a few windows today he’s not against a little more vandalism, especially in the name of saving a friend. Using all his might, Matt kicks at the door, again and again, eventually throwing his whole weight against it in hopes of knocking it down. All to no avail.

“Dom-I can’t get in, I can’t! What do I do?” he bangs on the door out of frustration, unable to help the bubble of panic that rises up in him.

“You have the gun, right?” Dom’s voice comes through the door, for once sounding weak, tired, quiet, “Shoot the lock, Matt, just please get me out of here,”

“Yeah,” Matt glances at the gun, remembering he only has two shots left, “But-but Dom I can’t use it, I can’t--there’s only two shots left and we need to kill the robot and-”

“Just do it!”

“Did you hear me? I said I can’t waste-”

“Shut the fuck up, Matt, and shoot the lock,” 

It’s something in Dom’s voice, that tinge of desperation, perhaps even fear, that makes Matt freeze, his body moving before his mind allows it. Within seconds the lock is broken, shattered by the bullet Matt sent screaming through the metal. The door swings open without Matt touching it, and he stalks into the room, dropping the pistol on the floor and ripping the glasses off his face as he flings himself at Dom, ripping the tangle of wires from around the kneeling man.

“Dom? Dom! Are you okay?” he asks, catching his friend in his arms as he is released from his cage of code, “Please, did it hurt you?”

“What do you think?” Dom attempts at humour, knowing it falls flat on the concerned Matt, who reaches up to touch the black bruise forming around his eye. As he lies in his friend’s arms, he feels the pain finally, his ribs aching with the half forgotten grip of the robot and the pinch of it’s serrated fingers.

“Are you okay?” Matt asks again, giving him room to kneel on his own.

Together they kneel, facing each other. Dom still in his torn clothes and Matt wearing the bright armour, his smart glasses long since discarded on the floor.

“No,” Dom sighs, barely able to stop his voice cracking on the single syllable, “I thought I was going to die, I thought it would kill me,”

Without thinking, Matt takes Dom’s hands in his, gripping hard to hide the shaking in his limbs. 

“It put me up here and-and it tried to put all those wires in me, like it thought I was a robot too, or part of the simulation,” Dom continues, his voice thick with tears, “I didn’t think you’d come for me,”

At that, Matt huffs out a cry, leaning close to press his forehead against Dom’s. There, he stares into those steely eyes, finding the rawness beneath.

“Of course I’d come for you, Dom, I wouldn’t leave you to be torn apart by simulations,” Matt sighs, feeling the sting of tears line his own eyes too.

Somewhere outside, the fight between the robot and Chris wears on, but Matt doesn’t hear it, no, not as Dom’s sobs fill the air--quickly followed by his own.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this, I told you that none of this was real, that everything was a patch of code in the endless nothing but,” Dom swallows, “But it feels so  _ fucking  _ real, and I just need-”

“What do you need, Dom? I’ll get it for you,” Matt breathes, his hands dropping Dom’s to cup his face and lift it up to face him properly.

“I need humanity,” Dom hums, blinking through his tears at Matt, “I need something human, Matt,” 

“Then I’ll give it to you,” Matt’s voice is soft, gentle almost, his touch on Dom’s cheeks a comfort as he shuffles closer.

Their eyes meet for a moment, despite the tears and the danger looming over them. 

“I’ll give it to you,” Matt repeats, leaning forward in a sudden burst of confidence to plant a kiss on Dom’s lips.

They’re soft, warm, a comfort to him, and he almost doesn’t want to pull away. 

“Matt,” Dom whispers as he moves back barely an inch, his eyes closed in bliss, “Do that again, Matt,”

Falling from his cheeks, Matt’s arms drop down to wrap around Dom’s shoulders, pulling him closer as they sink into the kiss, the warmth of it rising up inside him. He tastes...he tastes like nothing Matt has ever experienced before, almost tropic and foreign, yet familiar all at once. Like home. Again they pull apart, their breaths mingling in the air between them as their eyes meet once more, stopping all thoughts of anything else but each other.

Out of nowhere, there’s another scream of metal, except this time, it plunges through the windows of the room, showering the two men with shards of glass:  _ the robot _ . As fast as is humanly possible, Matt scoots backwards and blindly reaches for the gun, aiming it at the window as Dom scrambles out of the way to hide behind him.

All at once the face of the robot appears in the void between them and the street, its bright eyes nearly blinding him without the protection of the glasses. It seems to grin, its jaw hanging open but not wide enough for Matt to have a clear shot.  Again it screeches, its jaw nearly unhinging to do so--ah! This is what Matt needs!

In a split second decision, Matt has fired the gun twice, sending both bullets racing through the static air, into the cavernous mouth of the robot, where they hurtle straight for the computer that drives it. Their impact is met with a mechanic crack, it’s head shuddering as forks of electricity race across its surface.  In a flurry of heat and lightning, the robot’s head explodes and shatters into at least a thousand pieces.

With one, final, mechanical roar, the robot rears up and collapses again, landing in a heap of charred metal and broken code at the base of the building. Both Matt and Dom shuffle to the window, watching as it settles with the final vestiges of life. But there’s no sign of Chris--whether the robot destroyed him or he escaped Matt doesn’t know...nor does he care, his only thought now is finding somewhere safe to go with Dom, to treat his injuries.

“Dom, come on, the car’s just around the corner,” Matt drops the gun, retrieving his glasses as he does so.

As they stride out of the darkened building, Dom feel Matt’s hand slip into his, and returns the gesture with a squeeze of his fingers.

“We’ll find somewhere safe, rest for a while, then we can go about finding our way back home, yeah?” Matt grins at Dom, the action sending shudders of warmth through his mind.

“That’s a good plan,” he replies, following the shorter man out of the building and into the street, where the great, steel carcass of the robot settles amongst piles of dust and shards of broken code.


	7. SEVEN--You'd Be Afraid If You Could Feel My Pain

Dom is silent as he sits in the passenger seat of the car, allowing Matt to drive without restraint. Now the streets are odd, and Matt feels as if they are repeating, or missing parts, or even changing as he drives past them. Eventually, he comments on that, pointing out how the buildings seem to flicker as they pass, almost as if they are not there--Matt swears he’s seen the scroll of code in their depthless windows a few times.

At that mention, Dom sits up a little, despite the soreness in his ribs.

“The simulation is unstable here,” Dom mutters, “What if this is it, Matt? What if we’ve found the centre of this synthetic world, what if we’ve found our way out?”

Hands gripping the steering wheel, Matt jumps upright a little, his eyes peeled for any sign of...well...anything really. He’s not sure what he’s looking for to be sure.

“Dom, how do we know when we’ve found...whatever it is that we’re looking for?” Matt queries, slowing down the car considerably.

“I’m not sure, maybe, I don’t know maybe a computer or something,” Dom says, pressing himself up against his window.

The two men drive in silence, both of them far too concentrated on watching the city pass by in a flash of neon lights and blurred code. Soon they pull up beside a grand building, it’s spires glowing in the dark sky, and it’s vast base sprawling in its own grounds, which are surrounded by gardens of wire and pools of code, even chipboard statues and neon plinths. Surrounding that is a wire fence, topped with angry barbed wire.

Now, the creator would not surround this masterpiece of a building with that if they did not want people to enter. Perhaps there’s some signs in there, maybe even the master computer.

Without a word, Matt looks to Dom to confirm that they share the same thought, then, once Dom nods, he turns off the car’s engine, and unbuckles his seatbelt. He looks at Dom, who still winces from his bruises and blackened eye, and bites his lip.

“I’ve got another one of these suits,” he says, gesturing to his own, “It’s on the backseat,”

Looking back, Dom nods at the suit, suddenly scared. Could this be his chance to break free from this simulation that has caged him for years?

“Put it on, Dom, please- we don’t know what’s out there,” Matt pleads, “It could be dangerous inside, there’s no point looking for the way out if we’re not alive to use it,”

Not speaking, Dom grabs the suit and pulls in forward, then shimmies around in his seat to wriggle his way into it. Once dressed, he looks back at Matt, who is more than eager to get out and start searching.

“Matt,” he ventures, “I’m scared,”

“The robot’s gone now, and so’s Chris- you’re free to go, nothing is stopping you,” Matt attempts to reassure his friend, but stops short when he shakes his head.

“No, not of those of- of the real world,” he whispers, keeping his voice low so as to not reveal the tears that threaten to fall, “I only know here,”

Sucking in a deep breath, Matt leans across to take Dom’s hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. To that, Dom merely looks down, at his feet, as if ashamed to reveal his feelings.

“Dom, listen. We may have found our way out, and if we have, I promise I’ll look after you once we get home, you just have to come with me now.” Matt sighs, “And besides, we don’t know if there’s anything here...there’s no point getting yourself all worked up,”

“It is here, I know it,” Dom confesses, slipping his hand out of Matt’s, “Before Chris began chasing me, he told me of a tower in this city...one that houses the master computer. The way he described it is exactly the same as this one looks- Matt we’ve found it,”

“Oh,” Matt says, flatly, half glad that it’s been confirmed.

“Yeah,” 

“Let’s go then, Dom please- we’re so close to going home!”

Instead of moving, Dom merely sits there, bouncing his leg up and down as Matt pleads with him.

“To leave the simulation we have to destroy it,” he says simply, “I never expected to live long enough to see the day,”

“Well, I’ll be glad to see the demise of this world,” Matt jokes, knowing his humour will fall flat the moment the words leave his mouth.

“It’s all I’ve known for-” Dom catches himself, pausing for what can only be a fraction of a second, before continuing, “For a long time. As dangerous as this place is, it’s home to me. I don’t have a life in the real world,”

“Then I’ll help you get one, you can live with me for as long as you want, forever even! Just, please Dom, we need to go.” Matt sucks in a shuddering breath, “Please, Dom, I want to go home,”

Again, Dom merely looks at him, his thoughts whirring through his mind as he struggles to come to his senses.

“Shit- Matt I’m sorry for being like this,” he gushes, suddenly, “It’s just I never expected to find this place, and now I have - now we have - I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do when we get there,”

At that, Matt lets out a little chuckle.

“Neither am I...usually hitting computers does something? So I’d say we just, well, smash it to pieces,”

“Okay, okay- let’s go Matt, let’s do this,” Dom laughs, slipping out of the car to stand on the sidewalk.

For the final time the two of them take in the skyline, the rising towers and the endless, empty windows, the vast, cloudless sky stretching overhead, and the blank streets below. Together, they turn to the building, and stride towards the fence, not entirely sure how they’re going to get through - but with the simulation distorted here, infrequent gaps appear in the simple, chain link structure, allowing them both through. 

Once inside the grounds, they waste no time in heading towards the structure, aiming straight for the front doors of the place. They wander past the dark statues and through the glades of wires until they reach the front door, it’s vast, oak appearance completely at odds with the minimalist modern architecture of everywhere else. Silently, Dom takes hold of the handle and pushes it down, shooting Matt an excited glance as it glides open smoothly - as if the simulation is happy to let them through, happy to let them destroy it once and for all.

The corridor inside is dark, it’s white walls nearly black as they enter, but the LED panels on their suits kick in quick enough, bathing the halls with a soft, blue light. Together, they decide to go left, and follow the lights of their own suit as the corridor winds through the building.

“Should we try this door?” Matt asks, pointing to what he’s sure is the first door they’ve seen so far.

“No harm in that,” Dom replies, pushing at the handle - exactly as the first door had done this one glides open too, thrusting them out from the clinical corridors and into a blank void. 

Slowly, as they watch, lights appear in the void - no, not lights, but sections of code, endlessly scrolling in that sickly green colour of theirs. As more and more reams of code reveal themselves, they begin to form a bridge, one that lights up with blue around the edges, as if to guide them to the platform at the very centre. There, on that platform, stands a single computer, it’s screen flashing into life as the men approach.

“Wow,” Matt breathes, leaning over the edge of the bridge to see the endless scroll of code unravelling beneath them. 0s and 1s flash by in a sting of binary as they approach the central platform.

Once there, they circle the computer like vultures, inspecting it for any clues as to how to break it, how to end the simulation they currently walk in - how to break them free from this coded darkness that blankets them both.

“Matt, come here,” Dom beckons, pointing a plug in the back of the computer case.

“Do you think we should just...unplug it? That seems a little simple,” Matt muses, prodding it with his foot.

“It does but- this whole place is so simple,” Dom frowns, “It all feels too obvious,”

“Maybe it is. Maybe it’s supposed to be like that, to fool us into thinking otherwise,” Matt suggests, “We may as well give it a go,”

Biting his lip, Dom looks at the man, who only now looks so small, so young, so vulnerable in this simulation.

“Are you sure? What if it-” Dom swallows, “What if it kills us?”

“Then we reload,” Matt shrugs, “We find each other again, and we keep trying until we find our way out,”

Nodding, Dom crouches down on the floor, hands gripping the bulk of the plug as Matt does the same.

“On the count of three, okay?” Matt clarifies, suckign in a deep breath before he continues, “One,”

Dom shuffles a little to adjust his grip, hoping the plug wont be too hard to rip out.

“Two,”

Huffing out a breath, Matt steels himself for the tug, knowing with the lack of food here his strength won't be as good as normal.

“Wait!” a voice calls, haggard and mechanical.

Both men whip around to search for the owner of the voice, to find Chris stumbling across the bridge of code, his body half shattered and revealing the silver metal beneath his skin.

“If you do that you’ll destroy this simulation, and everything created in it,” he explains, coming to a stop not a few meters from the two men, “I can’t let you do that,”

Unblinking, Chris stands up straighter, raising his right arm to point at the two men. As Matt’s eyes focus, he realises what’s being held out to them.

A gun.

And Chris’ finger is hovering over the trigger.


	8. EIGHT--That We're Estranged And All Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> last one......short one ;)

“Chris, don’t,” Dom says, flatly, “Let us go,”

“I can’t, you know I can’t,” Chris says, his voice steely and his eyes blank.

As they talk, Matt shuffles ever so closer to the computer, wedging the toe of his boot in the gap between the computer and the body of the plug.

“Step away from the computer or I’ll have to shoot,” he warns, gun trained at Dom, “You of all people should know the rules,”

“Shoot me then, Chris,” Dom snaps, and Matt pauses for a moment to glare at him - what is it with Dom and riling up Chris?

“Dom? Do you have a death wish?” Matt hisses, watching as Dom takes a minor step towards the arms bearing policeman.

“Go on Chris, I’m an open target,” he spreads his arms wide, ignoring Matt’s comments, “Just before you do- you might want to remember our time together. We used to be best friends, remember? We drove everywhere and explored this world, what’s the harm in me wanting to see another?”

“Shut up,” Chris barks, “The harm is that you’ll destroy this one, you’ll destroy _ me _,”

At that, Dom looks down at his feet, letting out a long, pained sigh. Still, Matt wiggles his foot in the gap, his heart lurching in his chest as he feels it move a little.

“Collateral damage,” he says, simply, looking directly across to Chris, “Sorry,”

With the fury of a thousand soldiers Dom glares up the barrel of the gun, his sharp gaze making Chris step back a little, almost tripping over a loose wire.

“You’ve been corrupted by the simulation, Chris, it’s infested you like a virus,” Dom snaps out, his tone bitter and harsh, “You’ve been given your orders and you won’t stop until you’ve completed them, because you never stop to think,”

“He’s a robot I’m not sure he _ can _think,” Matt interjects from the side, watching as the edges of the room grow fuzzy as the plug is pushed further from the computer. Nearly there now, he just needs Dom to stall Chris for a few seconds longer, just a little bit more-

There’s an audible crack as the plug falls from the back of the computer to the floor, one that is twinned by the surge of brightness in the room.

Then the simulation begins to crash.

Shards of code fracture, leaving gaps of nothingness between the racing code, and the island seems to shake, as if there is an earthquake going on.

“Dom! Dom get over here!” Matt grabs hold of his friend, pulling him away as the ground beneath him splits open, a void opening in the place where he previously stood. 

Out of nowhere the sky cracks, showing them for the final time the soaring neon towers, which come crashing down in a flash of darkened lights. Both men watch with horror as one of the voids swallows up Chris, their last sight of him contorted in some horrific scream.

“Matt, behind you!” Dom points, and Matt whirls around to find a portal coming into focus - one that looks directly into his bedroom, untouched since he was last there.

Excited, Matt is about to plunge through, testing it with his arm and beckoning Dom to do the same.

“Come on! Let’s to this together,” he smiles, a tide of joy rising inside him at the thought of going home. At last.

With one, trembling arm Dom reaches up to the portal, pressing his fingers against it in hopes of going through, just like Matt. But he can’t. He can’t pass over the threshold into the real world. An invisible wall blocks him. Again and again, he tries in vain, all to no avail.

“Matt, I can’t” he breathes, voice wavering as tears threaten to flood him.

“What? Why wont it let you?” Matt swallows, feeling fear bubble up inside him once more.

“I’m sorry Matt,” Dom cries, stepping back to cover his face with his hands, “I’m so sorry, I thought it would let me go but-”

“But what?” Matt yells, his fear sending him straight into a panic, “Why won’t it let you go?”

Dom is silent, apart from the occasional sob, as he finds the words to say.

“I’m not human,” he gushes, suddenly, “I’m like Chris, I was created as part of this simulation, and I lied to you - _ I’m _ the one with messed up code, not Chris. I’m the one who broke free from my programming, I’m not _ real _,”

“What?” Matt whispers, utterly numb.

“I’m not real, and you are,” Dom breathes again, “I’m sorry,”

“No- no Dom please, I won’t leave without you,” Matt cries, his face scrunched up with tears at the revelation.

Both men are utterly unaware of the simulation crashing down around them, nor do they bother about the deathless void closing in,

“I’m sorry,” Dom pulls Matt closer, tears blinding him as his fuses his lips to Matt’s in a furious kiss. It sends shockwaves of fireworks through his very being, the warmth rising inside him refusing to allow him to let go, to break free.

As he pulls away, he can feel every inch of his body succumbing to the simulation’s destruction; he can feel himself dying.

Matt looks at him again with sad eyes, their depthless blue hues lined with tears.

“I’m staying,” Matt breathes, attempting to cling onto Dom - only for the blonde man to peel his hands away, a sad smile lining his features.

“I love you,” Dom says simply, not waiting for Matt to reply when he pushes him backwards, through the portal and back into his real world.

The moment he’s through, it’s gone. Leaving Dom to wait for the simulation to consume him once more.

Screaming, Matt bangs on the wall where the portal was, as if it’s unyielding, white paint will let him back through to the vast nothingness that the simulation has become. His throat is raw as he crumples to the floor, barely able to breathe over the sobs wracking through his body.

“Dom,” he chokes out, mind shuttering as the image of the searing kiss and the push replay over and over, “Oh Dom,”

Eventually, his breathing levels out, and his tears slow. But only long enough for him to recall the words the man had uttered moments before pushing him to safety.

_ I love you. _

Again the tears come, this time softer, quieter before. No longer falling from the eyes of a man shocked by his situation, but from a man who’s lost the first fragments of love. Over his tears, he whispers the words to himself, unsure whether they are to soothe himself or a message to Dom. A message he will never receive. Shaking, Matt drags himself across the floor to the bathroom, praying to god that the splash of cold water on his face will allow him to make sense of the situation. Still crying, he pulls himself up to look in the mirror, his trembling hands switching on the cold tap as he glances in the mirror.

Damn Dom. Damn him lying. Damn him for not realised he can’t escape the endless maze of code. Damn him for leaving Matt to face the world alone.

With the tap still running, Matt rests his face on his arms, elbows smacking against the white basin of his sink. He frowns as he peers through the wall of tears, inspecting the bruise on his cheek that he hadn’t noticed or felt before, and following the streaky lines of dry tears down his cheeks.

Something in the mirror makes him pause. The flash of green in his eye that wasn’t there before.

Quelling his sobs, Matt leans closer to the polished glass, reeling back when he sees the near invisible scroll of code rolling through his iris. Again, he chokes back a sob at the sight, unable to make sense of the situation.

No, cold water won’t fix this.

Instead, Matt lets himself fall to the floor once more, lets himself succumb to the unyielding tide of emotions that drowns him as he curls up into a ball, not even the feeling of the cold tiles against his cheek make him feel real.

He may have left the trappings of the computer, but now the simulation has become caged inside him.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't cry, please.


End file.
